Even though the United States and Russia are on opposite sides of the world map, they’re actually very close in one specific place. At their closest point, the two countries are less than three miles apart. Still, despite being so near in distance, they are almost a full day apart in time.
This happens because the Earth is shaped like a sphere. If you travel far enough in one direction—east or west—you’ll eventually reach the other side. Time zones shift as you move around the planet, and the International Date Line, which marks the change from one day to the next, plays a big role in this difference.
One of the most interesting places where this happens is the Diomede Islands. These two small islands sit in the Bering Strait, the body of water that separates Russia and Alaska. The bigger island is called Big Diomede and belongs to Russia. The smaller one, Little Diomede, is part of the United States.
Big Diomede is currently uninhabited, though it used to have a military base during wartime and now has a Russian border station. Little Diomede, on the other hand, has a small group of people who live there year-round. It is part of the state of Alaska.
The two islands are only about 2.4 miles (or about 3.8 kilometers) apart, but because the International Date Line runs between them, there’s a 21-hour time difference. That’s why people sometimes call Big Diomede “Tomorrow Island” and Little Diomede “Yesterday Island.” Even though you can almost see one island from the other, they’re nearly a whole day apart in time.
In the winter, when the sea freezes over, it’s actually possible to walk from one island to the other over the ice. That means you could technically walk from one country to another, and into “tomorrow,” with just a short stroll—though doing so isn’t exactly legal or encouraged.
Some Americans are surprised to find out how close Russia really is. Many don’t think of Russia as a close neighbor. Some even joked about a past comment from Sarah Palin, a former Alaska governor, who said she could see Russia from her home. If she lived on Little Diomede, that would actually be true—you really *can* see Russia from there.
